'The killing time'

From the late 1880s to the 1940s there was a push by the WA Government for pastoralists to expand in the east Kimberley.

What started in the 1880s with about 100 cattle quickly grew to thousands.

"There was a lot of murder in the Kimberley, largely due to a lack of government authority and a malicious frontier attitude toward Aboriginal people," said Dr Chris Owen from University of Western Australia, who has studied the Kimberley region.

What the pastoralists new to the east Kimberley did not know was that there was an immense population of Aboriginal people living there, nor how well they would protect their country.

"There was a tension between wanting to grow the cattle population and the Aboriginal people who used to spear the cattle for food," Dr Owen said.

Weaber Plains Road is a major road into Kununurra and is said to be named after two brothers, Jimmy and William Weaber.

Mr Newry said his grandmother lived at the station managed by the Weaber brothers and the stories passed to him implicate them in the murder of Aboriginal people.

He said the men would use trackers to capture and kill Aboriginal people to get them off the land.

"My grandmother said they used a Miriwoong man as a tracker," he said.

"They use to get him to find out where the people were and track them on foot."

"He was forced to do it. He had no choice."

Revisiting history and reconciliation

The Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley was approached by former WA MP Tom Stephens to formally change the name of the crossing in 2015.

After a lengthy consultation process with the Miriuwung Gajerrong Corporation and the community, and a discovery that the crossing was never officially recorded with the WA Geographic Names Committee, it was decided the name would be changed to Galboorrang Crossing — reflecting the native fauna in the area in the Miriwoong language.

At the end of February it became official.

"It was very significant for some of our community and I think we did the right thing," said Shire president David Menzel.

Edward Carlton from the Miriuwung Gajerrong Corporation welcomed the decision to change the creek's name.